The only reason that you shouldn’t use a full stop is when another punctuation mark better shows the tone of the sentence. Remember earlier when we said unless you were using another sentence type, you were probably using a declarative sentence and should therefore use a full stop. Well, here are some other sentence types which should end in different punctuation marks.

Questions

Questions should always be finished with a question mark. You may also use question marks to show surprise or uncertainty at the end of a statement, but this is done stylistically for tone. Here are the two ways in which a question mark should end the sentence rather than a full stop:

• What time should we expect you? – This is a direct question, so we should use a question mark.
• She said that? – This isn’t a question in the strictest sense, but by placing a question mark here you are showing disbelief and uncertainty. The way a reader approaches this sentence will very much depend on the context surrounding it.

Exclamations

When we use exclamations, we should use an exclamation point. We use exclamation points to show excitement or emphasis. Exclamation points should be used sparingly within a text or else they lose some of their value. Here are some examples of when an exclamation point might be a better choice than a full stop:

• I can’t believe you’re finally here!
• Wow! You’re new hair looks amazing. – Notice here how we only used an exclamation point after ‘wow’. Whilst the excitement is still clear in the second sentence, we use a period instead. Again, overusing exclamation points can make a piece seem unprofessional, so be wary of that.

A full stop, question mark, and exclamation point are the only three punctuation marks that should end a sentence. Decide which one better suits the sentence you have written and you’ll be fine.